As Good as Live Aid (85)

Thursday, October 18

One thing you dummies don’t know about me is that I buy Leafs jerseys. I like Leafs jerseys. I have a lot of them. I don’t like new jerseys either. And by new jerseys I don’t mean New Jersey’s…I mean second hand jerseys. Jerseys with personal baggage. I once bought a sweet away Vaive for ten bucks in a Goodwill in cottage country. I have a Valk for crying out loud.But my new favourite is a sweet Clark home jersey I bought this past pre-season. For some reason I am kind of proud to say that I only paid 99 cents for it. And yes it’s a little big and admittedly the sleeves are deceptively short. But its quality workmanship all the way. The name is perfectly stitched on as are the 17’s…all three of them. Best of all…it’s a C. My first.It’s become my sweater of choice to watch the games in, and before you ask, Yes, I do wear a Leafs jersey every game…what’s it too ya? Wanna fight about it?That’s even if that’s a Game In A Hour on Leafs TV (which is on in like fifteen minutes so I gotta make this brief) On Saturdays my two year old son and I wear matching jerseys (although sometimes he is in Maple Leafs pajamas.) If I had a pair, I would wear them too.

I avoided the Leafs game against Carolina. Thankfully I was spared having to go through that by a taunting email from a fan of the team from ottawa. One thing you can always count on from an ottawa team fan is their inherent asshol-ed-ness. A beating as bad as we received that night, they couldn’t not gloat. I did however catch the game against the Islanders. And the Pens. And Montreal. My point is this…and I gotta make this brief cos the game is on in like 2 minutes. I like a lot of what I am seeing. I love the way Gamache plays, thinks, interviews. This kid really impresses me. As does Stajan…who is very good friends with a very good friend of mine…I met him in a Sunglass Hut once. He was playing in St John's at the time. He was just some little kid. Come to think of it it was in the same mall where I met man-boy Kaberle.

I like the way Sundin has been playing. Although he was on the ice for a bunch of horrendous goals the other night. I thought Sundin lost a step last season. It looks like he has it back.They’re a frustrating bunch because when they look like they’re having fun and its clicking…they’re a good team and fun to watch. And then they’re just suddenly all wrong. I often catch myself saying oh no to know one in particular. Defensively they’re horrendous. Kabina was starting to remind me of Aki Berg out there. He’s been much worse than McCabe (who I will get to in a moment) And man-child Kaberle looks lazy out there. That’s the first time I have ever said that about Kaberle. Who I still say has the best first pass in the NHL. The Pens made them run around. But forgive me Leaf Nation but I really enjoyed watching Crosby play. I am thrilled that he is going to be on many Team Canada’s to come.

What has bothered me is how, and did anyone else notice this, the teams we were playing kept starting their back ups with us. And I know that’s not like intentionally walking a guy in baseball either...it seems disrespectful. Speaking of goalies. I think both have played well. You can’t really blame either Toskala or Raycroft outright. Toskala looks like the real deal most nights. His positioning is amazing. He reminds me of Ed Belfour when he was playing well. Perfect positioning. And Raycroft looked great the other night. You certainly can’t blame him for the loss. This leads me, of course, to Bryan McCabe. The last guy to score on a Leaf net minder. Just in case you didn’t catch it…Bryan McCabe scored the winning goal last game. Yes…now seems like the perfect time to jump at him. Throw insults at him. Boo him everytime he touches the puck. Bring up his salary: something like that at 7.12 a year…he should be Chris Pronger. Something like…at 7.12 a year…you get could 16 Simon Gamaches. Something like at 7.12 a year you could get the Sedin Twins, an Ovechkin, 2 Francois Beauchemin’s and still have room to be able to get Marcel Hossa to call Marian Hossa and bum some money off him. All for 1 Bryan McCabe. Yes you could think all that…or I could for you, as I just did, your welcome. But don’t. This is the time to rally around him. I’m sorry that’s just how I feel. McCabe needs our love right now. I am glad he is on my team and not your team….and it’s only a real douchebag that would say the things that are clearly bothering him. The things that made Darcy come out and defend his friend and teammate. He will bounce back. And every real fan knows that. McCabe died a thousand worse deaths (because of that goal) than you and anyone who doesn’t understand that doesn’t understand hockey or sports or competition in general. And by the way you’re not really that welcome back on the Leafs bandwagon (…from which I will not jump) when you jump back on. These are the same people who booed Larry Murphy right out of a Leafs jersey.